itu

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/337063-fbass-vf4/

Another take...

1 hour ago, Marcoelwray said:

In most cases a lost of brightness on a passive bass (except strings and tralalalala) is due to potentiometer value. IMHO.

You are on a right track: if you increase the pot value, the load to the pickup is smaller and the sound is brighter. You can try a 10 kohm pot and then a 500 kohm and listen to the difference. You can leave all pots out (and at the same time the load to the pickup) and hear some more highs. The tone can be done by a true bypass switch, a trimmer and a capacitor (like in a PRS guitar).

SP put a tough one!

Neutral cabs are a rare breed among bass/PA systems. The reason for this is the efficiency. If you lower efficiency you get wider/even response and vice versa. Hifi stuff has efficiency in the area of 0.01 - 0.1 % (this equals that 100 W of power creates 0.01 to 0.1 watts of sound). PA and bass systems may have efficiency up to 1 - 2 %. This is quite some more loudness than with Hifi systems. The price paid is the funny looking response.

Do you still believe that a wide & flat response is possible within reasonably small PA/bass systems?

Probably not, but they have become rare and old enough to represent them as the holy Grail of basses, be it true or not. As my experience with Fenders is somewhat dull (the specifications I am after are not represented by any Fender), I have done some research of my own and found other brands and instruments, newer or older, that serve me far better. This is just my very own opinion and personal choice. Someone might say: No problem, please move forward.

On 22/02/2014 at 19:23, hamfist said:

That Artec preamp will not work with active pickups, it is designed for passive pickups and, unfortunately, with passive and active pickups and preamps you cannot mix and match.

May I ask, why not? Usually buffered outputs are lo-Z and inputs are FET-based very hi-Z. This is match made in heaven. Even passive pick ups have relatively low impedance compared to FET-inputs, so I can not see problems here, either.

Unbuffered piezos may face inputs that have too low impedance and there you can hear how the low end vanishes.

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/335845-fbass-alain-caron-ac5-fretless/

There is one pre-loved five string fretless, there...

Please do not even think about the change of the fretboard. There are so many lined already available - you just do not look at the fretboard while playing, only side dots. And looking at the 'board while playing is nearly impossible from ergonomics point of view.

Sir Elwray: your lined fretless project looks extremely good with different coloured lines (à la Carl Thompson) but an unlined black needs to stay black.

An idea I got while working in a local broadcasting company was to use colours. That is why my cables are red, blue, yellow, pink... it is easier to watch your step.

As they are tied together in the resin, I just happen to consider them as a complete system, not separable parts. My understanding is that EMG's (passive) coil has very few rounds of copper round it compared to a passive pick up.

Actually the lo-Z coil might work well with the amp but the buffer amplifies the low level signal quite a lot. A low impedance output is really easy to match with any input. Here the level is the main issue.

I have built an accelerator based bass pick up some 20 years ago. I would consider it active, too. Its frequency response starts from DC so far too low. I had to design an adjustable HPF to it to make it useful.

EMGs have built in buffers in the low impedance pick ups, so I would consider them as active. High impedance passives are a different animal. But this is semantics.

I wrote about this few days ago but I try to give you another way of understanding the issue.

In your case I would use passive pickups for two reasons: you want active (preamp) and passive mode. This is not possible with true active pick ups like EMG.

So make a choice of your passive pickups, be it whatever (bartolini, Seymour Duncan, you name it). Then consider the preamp offering (from tone control, like Glockenklang to fully active front end like East). This has a lot to do with how the sound behaves. Let me clarify this.

1) "Active bass" may mean that your bass has a passive vol&pan or vol&vol (for a two pick up bass). On top of that you may have that "active" part that actually is just an active tone control. This way the active tone control can be bypassed with a simple switch and your "active" becomes passive. These passive controls (pots, that is) affect the sound by varying impedance load to the pickups. This changes especially the top end of the frequency response, so a volume acts like a tone, too.

2) Truly active bass has active buffers for both pick ups. This is the first step to a fully active front end, i.e. a mixer. This way the controls affect only that part of the setting that they are meant to be, so volume only affects volume. (My understanding is that this East has a passive mode, too.)

So to simplify this, you may buy an active mixer (and I think East is like one) or you can rely on simple switchable active tone control, depending on your need. This may also help you to understand the price difference on those two solutions: a fully functional Artec active tone control costs £20 and an East £200.

***

A food for thought: if you compare a tiny battery operated preamp to a studio console, you may get an idea of what is behind your sound. If you spare at the instrument end, you just can not fix it in the bass amp or studio mixer. A cheapo tone control (and EVERY SINGLE carbon track pot) can be left out if your usage is in the studio and the first thing you connect your instrument is a £200 000 mixer. Believe me or not - you can check the Anthony Jackson's Fodera that has a mic and the Neutrik. That's it.

13 minutes ago, ped said:

Indeed - however the Arpege semi-parametric extra control knob alters the frequency of the boost/cut knob. It was also available with a ROM preamp without the removable pre-amp cartridges you mention for the Passion bass. Instead it had a 12 position switch http://www.vigierguitars.net/bcatalog/bfcv4.htm

But Sir, the semiparametric has a frequency knob on both preamps, Arpege and Passion. Passion only has volume, treble and the frequency knob, but Arpege has one more, so is it a bass or pan? This probably relates to different year models/versions. I just have two versions of Series II from 1988 and 1989. Their difference is that the frequency knob works CW and CCW.

Few less known but very reasonable options are Swedish TKS and British Barefaced. A black horse in this professional crowd could be an Italian Alusonic.

Sir, a copy of that pdf to me, please! Nice pair of dark ladies, by the way. (can almost hear Cher singing that song in the background)

I would like to add, that Passion and Arpege were available with three preamps (and few versions of them) during series II time, at least:

- ROM module preamp (Passion): volume and several presets with a rotating switch. Recognizable from two dots (the preamp attachment to the top) between pot hats. Few modules available.

- semiparametric: the most common unit. Arpege has one more pot (bass, I think).

- Nautilus (Arpege): the very rare and strange preamp with memory and display among others. Has approx. 251 pots and switches, or so.

Quite some data can be found from the net, but these are the basics.

Competitive price for such a rare beauty. Incredible playability, very functional preamp, neck is better than nearly anything else on the market. The new owner will love her.

Somebody might say that this is subjective, as I do have two series II Passions. And because of this, I am not the one to acquire her right now.

Yes, exactly. ABX and blind testing are very efficient in ruling out these guess and feel based 50-60 results.

But it is true, that if you believe in something, it should be noted. While playing, feeling is included.

OK, here is a guide that I often refer to: http://www.resistorguide.com/potentiometer/ . Easy to read and has lots of information. Enjoy.

I suppose few people that have printers read this, so here you can get some information about safety. In short: please ensure that your printer is not beside your bed or breakfast...

http://news.cision.com/tyoterveyslaitos/r/good-ventilation-should-be-ensured-when-using-tabletop-3d-printers,c9957055

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013005086

https://ac.els-cdn.com/S1352231013005086/1-s2.0-S1352231013005086-main.pdf?_tid=756d9253-a066-4a50-8cb9-3552a0a6528f&acdnat=1548967747_32179bea48807371e9a67ad2fdb9852f

Have to say, that I love this: GisserD opens his project to public (+ public comments) AND show incredible results. As a mortal, I dream of similar brave attitude.

I can read OUTPUT, but does it really say INTPUT in the upper right corner?

This project is excellent, like the way you have been opening the box and found a new way to reduce the footprint. I think that some shielding would be in order to make it quiet to both directions, in and out.

The capacitor has not so much effect when the pot is fully open, but the pot load is affecting the sound all the time.

Only if the neck including its parts is similar to another and the only difference is the fretboard, the comparison would be somewhat reasonable. Setting the instrument has to be done the same way, too.

I would LOVE to have an active blend and get rid out of those pick up load issues (i.e. sound changes) with passive pots. I have found noll that makes an active mixpot and I think that East has active inputs (please correct me if I'm wrong). Quite many bartolini sets have passive pots and only the tone control is active.

Most of the manufacturers rely purely on active tone control. I see this point of view as a "half active system": the volume and mixing of the pick ups is passive. Qualitywise this solution is somewhat cheapo. Active EMGs are active by nature, so mixing them can be done with passive pots without significant load and sound issues. Active is an option there, too.

1) passive pick up - passive volume and mix - passive tone (like a Jazz)

2) passive pick up - passive volume and mix - active tone (any "active" bass like Ibanez)

3) passive pick up - active volume and mix - active tone (like retrofit East preamp on a Jazz)

4) active pick up - active or passive volume and mix - active or passive tone (EMG + East)

Here are few points (arrows), that may need some tin. The power socket and IN and OUT are marked with text. I am not sure, whether my reading is perfect (I just rely on the pic) but it seems that there may be issues in the PCBA. For example those arrows in the uppermost right corner showing problems may be of no use i.e. not important.

Just on the right side from that trimmer (which looks like a flathead screw - do not touch it) you can see 6 + 6 soldered legs of the input and output jacks. Open the jack screws first and try again.

If there is a power connection (9 V) somewhere, the PCBA may be stuck from that corner, so take your time.

The power socket is maybe on the left side of those red&black wires and the trio of solderings look pretty lousy. It may be loose, so you just need a hot iron and some tin.

I would wash the PCBA with (denaturated) ethanol to see, if there are other issues with solderings. Does not look so clean...

A pic or two would be very helpful...